


Dean's Responsibility

by mansikka



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel (Supernatural)'s Birthday, Fluff, Human Castiel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-21 01:27:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6033064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mansikka/pseuds/mansikka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t know what to do, Sam.”</p><p>Dean looks over at Sam helplessly, pleading for something, anything at all. Sam just shakes his head dismissively, clearly not interested in Dean’s plight.</p><p>“This one’s all on you, Dean. All of it.”</p><p>“C’mon, Sammy, I’m begging here, okay?”</p><p>“Dude. It’s Cas. He’s your responsibility for this.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“I don’t know what to do, Sam.”

Dean looks over at Sam helplessly, pleading for something, anything at all. Sam just shakes his head dismissively, clearly not interested in Dean’s plight.

“This one’s all on you, Dean. All of it."  


“C’mon, Sammy, I’m begging here, okay?”

Sam raises a bemused eyebrow up at him, and part of Dean wonders if Sam’s just pissed that he’s interrupting his breakfast. Without breaking eye contact, Sam shoves a half slice of toast and jelly into his mouth, and shakes his head.

“No can do, Dean. You’re on your own.”

“Just a little help…” Dean’s voice is wheedling, whining, and suddenly Sam finds that hysterical. He chokes a little on his toast, quickly swigging back some of his coffee and clearing his throat, then wiping his eyes.

“Dude. It’s Cas. He’s _your_ responsibility for this.”

“You make it sound like he’s a burden, Sam. That’s not fair.”

“No,” Sam agrees, huffing and turning back to his toast but still smiling as though Dean might be the most ridiculous thing he’s ever seen. “It isn’t. But the last time I referred to him as your _boyfriend_ ,” and Sam says it in the very tone that had pissed Dean off the first time round, “You ‘bout ripped my head off.”

Dean’s face contorts in embarrassment. “We’re not… tweens, Sam. We’re men. Grown ass men. We don’t go around calling each other _boyfriend_ or… or any of that stuff.” Dean is a little defensive, and Sam can’t help but laugh again.

“Oh yeah? Pretty sure I heard some… endearments… coming from your mouth the other day when he brought you breakfast in bed…”

“That’s what you get for listening outside our bedroom door,” Dean says, shifting a little awkwardy although there’s a little pride there, as well as a touch of blush to his cheeks.

“Hey,” Sam says, holding his hands up in a gesture that says ‘don’t go there’, “I said _endearments_ , not your freaky sex noises.”

Dean takes offence at that, and he points at Sam. “Hey. We do _not_ have freaky sex noises.” And then he realises his mistake, because Sam collapses into a puddle of giggles and is rendered even more helpless.

“Sam,” Dean whines again, and Sam’s just shaking his head, completely dissolved in the mirth of it all.

Eventually, when he’s calmed himself down enough to look back up at Dean, who is not seeing anything funny about this at all, Sam laughs, “No, Dean. I already got him a gift. You already got him a gift. What you wanna do with Cas for his birthday you get to decide all by yourself.”

***

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Just some ideas. That’s all I’m asking,” Dean says again, a little softer, in his best, most reasonable voice.
> 
> “No. Because if I get it wrong, and he doesn’t like it, it’s gonna be me that gets the blame for it.”
> 
> “I wouldn’t-”
> 
> Sam snorts, cutting off Dean’s words.

“But Sam-”

“No.” And Sam is adamant, shaking his head, standing up and brushing the crumbs from his plate into the trash can and leaving the plate in the sink, which makes Dean clear his throat in annoyance.

Sam slumps his shoulders a little, but picks the plate back up and rinses it off, then does it properly as Dean stands expectantly by his side and watches him to make sure.

“Just some ideas. That’s all I’m asking,” Dean says again, a little softer, in his best, most reasonable voice.

“No. Because if I get it wrong, and he doesn’t like it, it’s gonna be me that gets the blame for it.”

“I wouldn’t-”

Sam snorts, cutting off Dean’s words. “I suggested you take him to that drive thru to watch The Shining, ‘cos I thought, you know - classic.”

Dean winces a little and looks down at his forearm, rubbing it in memory. “Think I’ve still got nailmarks from him digging in to me. He doesn't even _have_ nails.”

“Yeah,” Sam agrees, “And who got grief for that?”

“Hey,” Dean frowns at him, “He didn’t sleep for a week, okay? And he made me leave the light on. You know how I hate the light on when I'm trying to sleep,” Dean complains, and Sam just grins as though Dean is an idiot.

“That’s not my fault though, is it? How was I to know he wouldn’t like horror movies? I mean, seriously, Dean. Half the time, he’s _been_ the horror movie,” Sam laughs, shaking his head, and Dean gives a little smile at how messed up that actually is, but then hardens his expression again.

“That was _one_ time.”

“Uh uh,” Sam disagrees, adamantly shaking his head. “Then there was that jalapeno dip,”

Dean winces again, even pouting a little. “C’mon, Sam. He can’t help it if he doesn’t like spicy food,”

“Dean,” Sam says, looking at him incredulously, “He walked into that grocery store, practically yanked the door off the freezer, and stuck his tongue in a tub of ice cream.”

Dean cuffs the back of his neck in discomfort, squirming a little under Sam’s glare. “We paid for it. And he ate it all,” he said, as though that made up for everything.

“Yeah,” Sam laughs, “Without so much as a spoon!” Sam's face contorts into something halfway between pride and disgust. “And _then_ in the car we had to put up with his complaining about brain freeze and feeling sick. And you blamed me for it all!”

Dean looks as though he is about to deny that then shrugs in acceptance.

“And what about the time I mentioned that bee farm?” Sam adds, as though this is the final point to his case and he knows he’s won the argument.

“That… that was a complete misunderstanding,” Dean tries, deliberately avoiding Sam’s eyes.

“Misunderstanding? Dean. He tried to release all the bees,” Sam huffs out in exasperation.

Dean keeps looking down. “He doesn’t like captivity. You know what he gets like,” he offers, helpless to defend himself.

“Yeah. I do. Because not only did you leave me to deal with that irate beekeeper while you ‘comforted him’, you forgot about me and drove off! I had to stand out front for ten minutes with him shouting at me before you two came back. And all I got out of it was a lecture from you and some free honey samples. Which you took off me and gave to Cas,”

Dean opens his mouth as if to speak, but Sam shoots him a look that silences him instantly.

“So you’re on your own with this one.”

Dean chews on his bottom lip, looking for anything to bargain with. “You don’t wanna come with? Whatever it is?”

Sam bites back a smirk, his eyes dancing. “What, you don’t want a _special day_ together?”

Dean lets out a little whimper and his cheeks flush, “I… I…”

“I’ll join you for dinner. Wherever you end up. Just… take the day for yourselves, okay? And… don’t involve me.”

And with that, Sam pats him on the shoulder and leaves him to figure things out on his own.

***

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You cold?”
> 
> Dean wraps his arms a little tighter around Cas from behind, burying his face into the scarf at Cas' neck. Cas leans back his head a little to press against the side of Dean’s, shaking it softly.
> 
> “No, Dean. I am fine. Thank you,”

“You cold?”

Dean wraps his arms a little tighter around Cas from behind, burying his face into the scarf at Cas' neck. Cas leans back his head a little to press against the side of Dean’s, shaking it softly.

“No, Dean. I am fine. Thank you,” he adds, stretching up a little to kiss his temple since that was the only spot he could currently reach. They are standing on the roof of the Royall Hall of the University of Missouri. The Warko Observatory on a cold September night could have been a freezing disaster of a way to end Cas’ birthday. But with relief Dean sees that Cas is happy with his idea, and smiles, closing his eyes for a moment.

In the end, Dean had kept it simple for Cas’ birthday, for the most part. They’d woken late, with Dean driving Cas to his favourite place for breakfast, and then they’d set off for a short drive in a general direction that Dean stuck more or less to. Nothing but them and the highway and the occasional stop; Cas’ eyes had flickered out the window in interest at a sign for Lake Shawnee, where they stopped to feed the ducks before taking out a paddle boat.

Sam had driven all the way up to meet them for dinner as promised, a restaurant in Lawrence called The Burger Stand which Sam accused Dean of making reservations for because he wanted to try it himself, more than he wanted to take Cas somewhere he actually wanted to go.

Cas made enough indecent noises as he sunk his teeth into his burger to prove to Sam that he was very, very wrong on that front.

Cas seems to be enjoying his birthday so far, and Dean breathes deep against his hair as he looks out over the skyline, feeling pretty pleased with himself.

“Guess it’s a little different seeing the stars from this perspective, huh?” Dean murmurs into Cas’ neck, and glances up a fraction to see the smile curving on his face.

“It is, Dean. They are remarkable,” he says, squeezing Dean’s arms a little as they curl around him a little tighter.

“It’s not much, but,” Dean starts making his excuse for what he thinks is probably a lame idea despite Cas' enjoyment of it, but Cas stops him by lacing his fingers through and over Dean’s, where they rest around his waist.

“I have had a perfect birthday, Dean. It would have been perfect no matter what we did. I appreciate you taking the time to spend the entire day with me,” he adds, with such genuine delight, and affection, that Dean can’t help sighing a little in pride, and relief.

“Just you wait ‘till you see what I’ve got planned when we get to the hotel,” Dean whispers into his ear, nuzzling it a little and smirking at the way Cas shivers in response. He chooses to think the cold has nothing to do with it.

When Dean had mentioned to Sam that he planned on taking Cas to the observatory, Sam had planned his own surprise. Before they’d left for breakfast he’d slid over a folded sheet of paper, which Dean opened to find had the reservations for a hotel not far from where they’d be that evening.

When they step out of the elevator, Dean holds out an arm, stopping Cas from moving. Quickly checking out the room numbers to find theirs, he turns back to Cas and grins wide, and silly.

“I wanna try something,” he says, and Cas can’t help but smile curiously at the way Dean is laughing, clearly at himself.

“Okay,” Cas agrees, watching as Dean shoulders the bag he’s packed for them a little more securely.

“Here. Hold this,” Dean says, handing him the keycard. Cas looks down at the piece of plastic in his hand, and the next thing he knows, Dean is sweeping him up into his arms and carrying him, bridal style, to their room.

Cas lets out a shriek of laughter and quickly clasps his arms around Dean’s neck, as Dean is cursing beneath him about Cas being heavier than he looks. And he’s leaning down a little to try and swipe the card against the lock, both of them laughing and struggling at the way Dean is trying to keep him upright, and Cas keeps missing.

And finally they’re in, with Dean kicking back the door with a flourish, awkwardly backing up to close the door while still keeping a hold on Cas, and stumbling forward so they both collapse in a heap on the bed.

When their laughter fades a little, and all that is left are the idiotic grins they give each other as Dean leans over Cas and presses a kiss against his lips, Cas puffs his chest a little beneath Dean’s and brings a hand up to rest against his cheek.

“Happy birthday, Cas,” Dean says, his face reflecting back all the adoration he sees there in Cas’.

Cas sighs out again, content, looping his arms around Dean’s neck and pulling him down for another kiss.


End file.
